


Gravity

by Tarlan



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst, Community: fanfic100, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-30
Updated: 2009-09-30
Packaged: 2017-10-21 06:32:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/222000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Challenges come in various forms. Gravity and friendship are but two of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gravity

**Author's Note:**

> Written for **sg_prompts** #28 Challenge and **fanfic100** #81. Paralysis.

Standing at the base of the cliff, Rodney looked up in both awe and horror as the others began to scale it. He was a doctor of Astrophysics, not Spiderman, though as he watched John he wondered if the _climbing walls_ from the bug incident was actually a part of him devolving or just an enhancement of a natural talent. Rodney couldn't see any hand or toeholds from where he was standing and yet John was scuttling up the rock face like a bug. The man in question stopped and looked down from about fifteen feet up, almost at the top already.

"Unless you're just planning to stand there all day checking out my ass, then I'd suggest you get climbing, Rodney."

If it was intended as an insult, a way to goad Rodney into climbing by questioning his heterosexuality, then it fell far short of the mark because Rodney was able to appreciate a good ass no matter if it was a man or woman's. Except for Sheppard's. "What ass, Colonel?"

That earned him a frown and an irritated look. "Fine. Just remember the gate's up here, so if you want a comfy bed tonight and meatloaf then you'd best get moving."

Rodney winced, recalling how he had bitched at the team for dragging him away from Atlantis on _meatloaf_ day. With a put-upon sigh, he accepted the challenge before him and made the first tentative handhold to pull himself up, and then another. There was a small ledge no more than an inch wide, just across from him, and he moved towards it to use as his next hand and toe hold. He heaved himself up, fingers digging into the rock and jerked in fear as the weight of his backpack threatened to pull him from the rock surface.

He glanced up. "And we couldn't bring a Puddlejumper because...?"

John ignored him. "Come on, Rodney! Bet O'Neill never had problems with Jackson keeping up."

Rodney glanced up in annoyance at the irritated tone. "I suspect Daniel never carried anything..." He grunted as he pulled himself up another foot, "Heavier than a wad of tissues in his backpack, and a notebook and pen."

"Wad of tissues?"

"Allergies," Rodney started to wave a hand but instantly regretted it, hanging onto the tiny finger hold for dear life.

"Rodney has a point. Perhaps we should have brought a Puddlejumper," Teyla stated.

"Or lowered a rope--" Ronon added, only to be cut off by John.

"So he could hang there like a dead weight while we all pulled him up. No chance."

"I could have pulled up the little man easy," Ronon added.

"Hey! Enough of the little man comments!" Rodney yelled, even though he had to admit he was little compared to the behemoth that was Ronon Dex.

"It's barely fifteen feet to the top! My Great Aunt Sally could have made this climb in her eighties." Was that a whine in John's voice? Rodney thought as the words drifted down to him.

"Oh thanks for the comparison, except I sincerely doubt..." He heaved himself up a fraction more, "Your great aunt would have been able to...to lift this backpack, let alone climb the south face of...of K2 with it."

"Hardly K2."

Rodney glanced upwards for the next handhold but he couldn't see anything except... Yes. There. He just needed to reach a little higher and... His fingers caught the edge, brain numbing in shock when the edge crumbled. Unbalanced by the backpack, his weight shifted, pulling him away from the rock wall. Gravity took over and he fell as if in slow motion with a thousand thoughts racing through his mind even as he heard two voices frantically calling his name. The landing was a brief moment of pain and then nothing.

When he opened his eyes he found John's concerned face only inches from his own. "Don't move!" His voice was grave and firm, and Rodney could feel his fingers pressing into Rodney's shoulders to hold him down. "Carson's on his way."

"Oh no! It's my neck, isn't it? I've broken my neck and now I'm paralyzed from the neck down and I'll have to get one of those electric wheelchairs--"

"I'm sure it's just a...a..." John grimaced, trailing off.

"Just a what? A broken back?" Even Rodney could hear the edge of hysteria in his voice but he remained perfectly still, almost frozen in place.

"Oh, Rodney. What have you done to yourself now?"

"Carson! How did you get here so quick?"

Carson looked away. "How long was he unconscious, Colonel?"

"About seven minutes."

Seven minutes! Rodney could only watch in fear as Carson ran a scanner over his body before setting it aside.

"Now, can you feel--?"

"OW!"

"I'll take that as a yes," he murmured. "Well, lad, you took quite a tumble but I don't believe anything's broken, though you may have a wee concussion. Still, I'm going to use a backboard until I can confirm that diagnosis on the main scanner in medical."

"My neck's not broken?"

"No. I don't believe so."

"You don't believe so?" Rodney echoed, slightly perturbed by the lack of certainty. "What sort of answer is that?"

"The only one I'm going to give you until I've run more tests."

Rodney tried to be stoic as Carson and his medics strapped him down and lifted him but his eyes narrowed as they walked little more than ten feet before entering a Puddlejumper. He glared at John, who was walking beside the stretcher, reading the guilt behind the worry as he tried to placate Rodney.

"So next time we bring the Puddlejumper, okay?"

An hour later, Rodney shifted uncomfortably in his bed in the Infirmary. The Ancient scanner had confirmed only bruises and a mild concussion so Rodney had got off extremely lightly, all things considered. The backpack had actually cushioned his fall and, fortunately, the ground had been soft rather than hard. Still, his head hurt and he knew he was in for a bad night of being woken every time he managed to get a moment's sleep.

John stood beside his bed looking contrite. "Okay, look, I'm sorry! I should at least have let Ronon throw down a safety line."

"I could have died...or worse."

John looked away, and Rodney found himself relenting when faced with the full weight of John's remorse. He reached out and touched the black wristband, glad when John didn't pull away.

"Of course, you could make it up to me as I won't be able to carry anything heavy while this heals."

"Like your dinner tray," John murmured.

Rodney narrowed his eyes and sighed. Okay, so maybe he had been spending less time exercising recently--or no time at all--but Atlantis was going to fall to pieces if he didn't keep on top of the repairs, and there was still the Wraith out there even if Michael was now dead. He sighed heavily, finally understanding why John had forced the death march and climb on the last mission.

"I was," he cleared his throat. "I was never really that good at sports. I was always the last one picked for the teams," he grinned. "Except for ice hockey. I could skate rings around..." He took a breath. "I promise to let Ronon hit me with sticks...once a week," he added quickly.

"And run with me or Teyla two times a week?"

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Fine. Running always comes in handy."

The tension seemed to melt off John's body; the rigid stance flowing into the almost insolent slouch. John reached out and rested a hand on Rodney's shoulder.

"And I'll promise not to push you beyond your limits...unless I have to," John added.

"And carry my dinner tray for a week."

John smiled but this time it was loose and easy rather than a tight line of tension. "One week, and you bus it yourself."

"Deal."

As Rodney watched John walk away with a loose swagger, he wondered what other challenges he would face but he realized he had already succeeded in the greatest challenge of all; earning John's friendship.

END


End file.
